Pride of Lions
by i am pie
Summary: When Alice moves to a new school, she expects a new band. What she doesn't expect is no band. No one expects it. So when the the nonexistent Pride of Lions Marching Band decide to put themselves on the map, what will they have to do to get there?
1. Not How It's Supposed To Be

"Hey Al, have you got anything planned for tonight?" asked Tina as she rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.

Dorothy Alice (who'd gone by Alice for years now, even before Stephenie Meyer and the Cullens) dropped her spoon in her bowl of fruit loops and shrugged. "I don't know. If I can catch a ride, I want to go to the away game. We're playing Holton, and I've heard they've got a stellar band."

Tina stopped pulling out food and turned to look at her daughter sympathetically. "Al, come on. Cheer up. You heard what Mr. Tyler said. They'll probably have someone by semester." Alice, sitting on the counter next to the sink, offered her mother a smile, so that she would stop fretting and go back to her morning preparations. Tina took the smile, squeezed her daughter's knee, and held up a box of trail mix. "Do you know where the Ziploc bags are?"

Alice sat her bowl in the sink and hopped off the counter to pull open drawers. "I don't know. They're here somewhere." The third drawer revealed the yellow box, which Alice held up triumphantly. "Ta da!"

"Thanks, babe," her mother grabbed the box and pulled out bag after bag, dumping snack foods into them and sealing them up. Alice watched her mother silently, and Tina noticed. She again stopped what she was doing and turned to her daughter. "Are you ok? You're just so… quiet. It scares me a little."

Alice forced herself to smile cheesily. She laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Mom, I'm fine. I swear. I'm just… tired. I stayed up too late online," she said, laughing, this time for real. Tina looked at her daughter carefully, and then grabbed her in a hug.

"Things are looking up, ok? I promise you. It's all coming together for us." Alice hugged her mom back, tightly. "I promise. Ok? Cheer up."

"I'm cheered!" Alice twirled away from her mother, and held her arms out in their small kitchen. "Just like magic." Tina smiled and shoved the bags she'd made into a carry-all.

"I've got to get going or I'm going to be late! Al, can you put the rest of this stuff up before you leave for school? Thanks! Love you!"

"Ok! Love you too!" she called after her mother. The door shut, and Alice yawned. The clock read six thirty, and she had to be walking out the door no later than seven thirty. Quickly she appraised herself in the full length mirror that was hanging on cabinet door across from the fridge. She'd showered last night, but slept on wet hair, so that had to be dealt with, and she was still in her pj's. Nothing she couldn't handle in an hour.

As she sifted through her closet to decide an outfit, she thought about her freshman year. It felt like years ago. She'd been at a different school, a different state, a different house. And she'd actually been in a band. The little things you could take for granted every day, not even realizing how lucky you were. She'd been in band since her fifth grade year, and never thought about it all that much, only because it was always a part of her identity.

She was Alice: saxophone player, blonde hair, blue eyes, 16. It even went first in her identity. When Tina had announced their big move from Illinois to Missouri, the first thing Alice had wanted to know was not when or why, it was if Tina knew where in Missouri, what school, and did they have a band? Tina had assured her that yes, they had a band, she'd already asked. It was a new school, a "progressive" high school, and Alice was going to be in the first sophomore class ever.

The local conference had decided the schools were getting crowded, and pulled together a new school from the three most crowded schools. Thus was the birth of Soskatona High, and the Soskatona Lions.

Alice finally decided on a yellow shirt with some dark wash jeans and red high top Converse. "There," she said to her reflection, "school colors. Yay, school spirit!"

In Illinois, Alice had been finishing up the year, saying goodbye to friends and getting advice from graduating seniors and her band director. She was part of a huge band, but it was like a huge family reunion every day. Alice loved it. In Missouri, buildings were being finished and teachers lined up for each position. Students were being transferred and schedules mapped out. And while Alice attended end-of-year parties and endured playing Pomp and Circumstance for what felt like an hour, contracts were being signed and necessities were being ordered.

Halfway through the summer, Alice and Tina packed up and moved to Missouri and went to Soskatona's campus to enroll her. Again, Alice had been assured that she would be part of a band, a good one.

Alice turned on the news and flopped on the couch with her notebook for a minute. She still had some time before she had to leave, and she could work on homework while she waited.

Two weeks before school, band camp was scheduled on the football field. Alice had been ten minutes early, deciding it would give her a chance to socialize, and figure out her section. Apparently, everyone had the same idea, because there was a crowd sitting on the new aluminum bleachers. Alice nervously stood to the side for a minute, before taking a deep breath and jumping in head first. She'd never make friends standing to the side. So, she sat on the bleachers next to a tall, lanky boy and stuck her hand out. "I'm Alice, from Illinois. Saxophone."

The boy smiled at her. "Jesse, from here. I'm drum line." Alice had looked at him, surprised.

"You guys already had try-outs?"

"No. But look around. We haven't got enough people in any section. I'm pretty much positive I'll be on the field." Alice had looked around and decided Jesse was probably justified in his assumption. There were thirty people, max.

And that was all that happened. No director ever showed up. Eventually people started going home. Jesse, a junior, offered Alice a ride home, and she'd accepted gratefully. The next day there was a phone call from the principal. He said that there was a parent/student meeting in the cafeteria that night instead of band camp. Tina had to work, and asked if Alice could take notes. In the cafeteria that night, there was a middle-aged man waiting for them. Alice recognized him as Mr. Tyler, the principal. After a little bit, he spoke up. "Is this everyone?"

No one was sure, since this was only the second time they'd ever been together as a group, but it looked like mostly the same people as yesterday, so they all said yes. "Alright, I have some bad news. The man we hired as your band director, Mr. Maxwell, can no longer be your director. He… became very ill." Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded. A trombone player named Robert spoke for the group.

"So… what are we going to do?"

"Well, we're still trying to figure that out. At this point in time we haven't got a replacement yet. But we're looking."

"So… no band?" asked Robert's mother. Everyone looked at each other, confused. Mr. Tyler spoke.

"Er… at the moment, no. But we are looking for a replacement, please don't worry, your children will have band this year." Diana, a girl who Alice was pretty sure played clarinet, nudged her father, who spoke up.

"Mr. Tyler, what are our kids going to do once school starts? Band is a class."

Mr. Tyler coughed, and looked at the group of students and parents nervously. "We're hoping to have a teacher by the time the school year starts. This is very unfortunate, but we're going to get past this. What we want is a growing, learning environment for your children, and we want to nurture their talents. That includes band, and choir, and music."

After twenty more minutes of unhappy questions from parents, the meeting was over. No one left though, because there was plenty of talking to do. Like salad dressing, parents and students separated to different groups. Alice stood in the circle of students listening.

"What are we going to do if we don't have band?"

"They can't even find a sub?"

"Surely they'll find someone."

"But what if they can't?"

"We can't go an entire year with no band. It's probably in some law or something."

Apparently it wasn't a law, because they started school with no band director (or choir director: Mr. Maxwell was supposed to be both). Mr. Tyler subbed the band class, which for the time being was free study.

Alice grabbed her backpack and headed out the door. Soskatona operated on a block schedule, five classes one day, and five different classes the next day. Today was a Red day, and Alice had band first hour.

As she walked into the band room, it was quiet. She dumped her bag and looked around. Back in Illinois, the band room was never quiet. There was always activity, whether it be taping someone into a locker (or case, or anything that can be taped shut), or practicing music. But this band room was always quiet. It wasn't right.

"Hey, Alice!" Alice turned to see Marcy, a flute player, enter the room. Alice smiled.

"Hey Marcy. What's up?"

"Nothing. Did you get your math done?"

"Yeah, this morning." Marcy laughed.

"Can I compare answers this hour? I don't really understand it."

"Me either, but yeah, you can see mine."

"Thanks."

The bell rang, and more students came in. People started setting up chairs and stands, pulling out homework to work on. Alice watched and sighed. This wasn't what band was supposed to be. Band was supposed to be music and instruments. Not homework.


	2. Good News At The Game

"So what are your weekend plans?" asked Jesse. Alice smiled at him.

"Well, nothing really. Tonight I was thinking about maybe catching a ride to the away game, but I can't find anyone whose going."

"I'm going. Want a ride?"

"Really? That'd be cool."

"Yeah. I think Kyle was going, too. Yo, Kyle!" Jesse turned and shouted across the science room. The school day was almost over, and everyone was just sort of hanging out. The way curriculum was set up here was different then in Illinois, so Alice had ended up in a science class full of juniors. Luckily, Jesse, the beanpole drummer, was also in that class, so they sat next to each other.

"What?" Kyle called back.

"We still on for tonight? Going to Holton?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool! Alice is going to hitch a ride, too."

"Cool!" Jesse turned back to Alice and smiled.

"Cool," he said. She laughed.

"Cool." Jesse was cute. She wasn't going to deny it. But in the first few days of school he'd confided in her that he was madly in love with some girl at his old school that he was still determined to date, eventually. He'd been flirting with her and "wooing" her since their freshman year, but she'd yet to return his feelings. Alice didn't mind being just friends with Jesse. He was a cool enough guy that he could hold his own as just a friend. The bell rang, and everyone eagerly stood up to leave. Another weekend, finally here. Jesse shoved his chair under the table and turned to Alice.

"Need a ride home?"

"That'd be great." They walked out to the student parking lot together. Once in Jesse's little sedan, Alice turned on the radio.

"You can turn on whatever you want."

"Jack FM ok?" Jesse turned to her and smiled big.

"You listen to Jack? It's my favorite station. Number 3." Alice punched the number and the best songs ever filled the car. She'd never heard a song on Jack she didn't like. Their motto was Playing What We Want. Well, it was Alice wanted, too. The short drive to her house was filled with the two of them jamming to the radio.

As Alice climbed out of the car, Jesse leaned over the seat. "Pick you up around five?"

"Sounds good. See you then."

"Bye." Alice hurried to her front door and unlocked it, then turned and waved as Jesse drove away. She looked at the time. It was three thirty. After grabbing an after school snack, she decided to polish her saxophone. The case was sitting in her room, so Alice hauled it to the living room. As she pulled out the beautiful Keilwerth SX90 black nickel baritone saxophone, she smiled at how lucky she was.

Alice had started out on clarinet, because her mother had found a ridiculously cheap clarinet in good condition. That didn't last long, though, once Alice discovered the alto saxophone. In seventh grade, her band director had asked her to try out the bari sax for one song. It was love at first sight. Tina saw it Alice's eyes, and had made phone call after phone call. In secret, she and Alice's band director worked to find her good bari sax, and it had been Alice's Christmas present. It was the best present she'd ever gotten.

Alice sat on the floor and gently rubbed the bell. The clock said that she still had a half hour. So she popped a reed in her mouth and put her horn together. The deep, rich sound that her Keilwerth produced was the best feeling that Alice knew. She closed her eyes and played from memory, whatever came to her. An old jazz band solo, a strong bass line she liked.

When her eyes finally opened, it was five till five. She quickly put her horn up and grabbed her wallet and phone. Standing at the door and watching for Jesse, she shot off a text to her mother.

_Caught a ride to the game with Jesse. Not sure when I'll be back, Love ya_

Her mother quickly answered.

_Ok, have fun, love you too_

Alice looked up to see Jesse pulling into her driveway. She pulled the door shut behind her as she ran outside. Kyle was already in the front seat, so she climbed into the backseat and scooted to the middle. Jesse looked back and flashed a sparkling smile. "Ready?"

Alice popped her aviators on and nodded. "Let's do this."

Soskatona lost, but just barely. It was good game; the final score was 28-30, and Soskatona held their own to the very end. Holton, as Alice had heard, did indeed have a great band, and the halftime show (Beatles Hits) was well played and well choreographed. Alice walked away from the game feeling good. Jesse walked on one side of her, and Kyle on the other. Through the course of the night, Alice learned that Kyle played trumpet (she'd seen him in band but never asked), and he played trumpet well. He was really into music and band, but still was grounded enough to have a social life. He was a pretty cool guy, always ready to crack a joke.

He was in the middle of one of those jokes when Jesse's phone rang. He pulled it out, looked at the number, and smiled. "Hold on, this could be important," he said, flipping the phone open. "Hello?" a pause. "Yeah, yeah," another pause. "No way." Pause. "Your messing with me." Pause. "Seriously?" pause. "When?" Alice looked at Kyle, who shrugged and looked at Jesse, who was oblivious to both of them. "Are you serious? You rock. You are now amazing in my book." A pause; and Jesse mouthed something to Kyle, whose eyes lit up.

"What?" asked Alice. Kyle was laughing excitedly.

"We'll tell you in the car," he said, watching Jesse.

"Uh huh." Pause. "Uh huh." Pause. "Yes, please do. Again, thank you _tons_." Jesse hung up the phone and turned to Kyle. "Dude, it's on."

"Like Donkey Kong!" replied Kyle excitedly, and they high-fived. By then, they were at Jesse's car, so he unlocked the doors and they all climbed in before continuing to talk.

"Does anyone want to tell the poor little sophomore what exactly is going on?" asked Alice from the back seat. Both boys swiveled at the same time.

"Al, you're going to love this." Said Jesse, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "So, Kyle and I and a couple of the seniors decided that we didn't want to have this year be completely music-less. So we called around, asked for a few favors, dropped a few names, you know,"

Kyle spoke up. "We wanted to be able to play, and I think it's settled this marching season is shot,"

"Even though that's total BS, but that's something else…"

"Anyway! So we called around, you know, and I called my band director from last year, and I think Kayla called hers, and Logan called his, and we thought that maybe we could get some music loaned to us, and if nothing else have a student directed band, you know…"

"And that was my director just now, Mrs. Lenning. She said that she would lend us any of our…well, their music that they weren't using! Isn't that great?"

The entire time Alice whipped her head from face to face, like a tennis match. Now that she was given the opportunity to speak, she wasn't sure what to say. With a laugh, she finally sputtered something. "But do you really Mr. Tyler will allow a student directed band? I've never even heard of that."

Jesse turned around to start the car and start driving, but Kyle still faced her. "We're not giving him the chance to think about it."

"Mrs. Lenning said that I can have the music as soon as I'm willing to get it, so I'm going to go Monday after school."

"At school we're going to spread the word for everyone to bring their instruments."

"And Tuesday we're going to play!" cried Jesse triumphantly. Kyle smiled eagerly at Alice, searching her face for an opinion on the matter. She thought about it for a moment, forming one.

"I think that sound like a great idea," she said carefully, "If we can pull it off."

"What do you mean?" asked Kyle.

"I'm just wondering whether or not Mr. Tyler will allow it…" she said thoughtfully.

"Al, think about it for a minute," said Kyle, practically in the back seat himself for how far he was leaned toward her, "Why would he say no? It's not like we're destroying public property. We want to make music. What's wrong with that? All he has to do is supervise. We're not asking him to do anything."

"True," said Alice, thinking about it. A smile split her face. "I think it sounds like a great idea!" Kyle smiled at her, and Jesse grinned into the rearview mirror. "Who's going to direct?"

"Details, details…" said Jesse with a smile. "The point is, we'll be playing!" Alice smiled, and then looked out the window in time to see Holton's football field one last time. Maybe there was hope for this year yet.

**Hey there! First off, thanks to those who reviewed, I just wanted to say something. To anyone out there who might have noticed that Alice, a beginner, was on a Keilwerth SX90 black nickel finish and also noticed that I described it as "affordable", kudos for knowing your horns. Allow me to explain. I would give my sister's left arm for a Keilwerth anything, so I decided to live out that little fantasy through Alice. **

**See that little button down there that says 'review'? It's calling your name!**


	3. Beginning Band

Word spread quickly through the student body that the band was playing Tuesday. Any class that Alice had with fellow band members, she asked if they knew, and most of them already did. The plan had been extended over the weekend, so now everyone was going to be at school early and already set up and playing when Mr. Tyler came in after the tardy bell. The thought of getting a new piece of music, of playing as part of an ensemble again, thrilled Alice, and all day she was giggly and upbeat. Everyone in band was.

That night, when Tina got home and asked Alice how her day was, she answered honestly, and with a big smile. "It was good. Tomorrow we actually get to play in band."

This caught Tina's attention. She looked up from the stack of mail she'd been going through. "What? Mr. Tyler found you a director?"

"No, some of the upperclassmen called their old directors and got us some music. It's going to be a student directed band until we get a real director." Tina looked at Alice for a moment, thinking, and then smiled and patted Alice's cheek.

"Well, that sound really cool, Al. Do you know who's going to direct yet?"

"No. I think we're deciding tomorrow." It was ultimately going to come down to a vote, and whoever had the most experience. Someone had to have been Drum Major or assistant Drum Major or something at their old school.

The next morning Alice got ready fast, factoring in getting to school early, and the extra time it would take her to walk while carrying The Behemoth. That was the nickname she's affectionately given not so much to the Keilwerth, but the case. If she was stupid enough to try, she could probably pick up the actual horn with just one hand. It wasn't heavy at all. But the case was so huge and bulky and had so much padding that it weighed at least double the horn, probably much more than that.

Last year her friends had pointed out that at least she wasn't hauling around a tuba, which she always told herself on days like this. As she slowly made her way down her street towards school, that's what she muttered to herself. "Least it's not a tuba. Not a tuba. Not a tuba."

After what seemed like forever, she was able to pull open the school doors and maneuver herself in. Quickly she made her way to the band room. When she walked in, her heart fluttered. The world was back in balance, because this was how a band room was supposed to be. Everyone was pulling out chairs and stands and warming up instruments. Jesse waved her over to a big circle of upperclassmen. Still lugging The Behemoth, she joined him.

"Hey, Alice. Ok, so what do you play?" He looked at the huge rectangular case.

"Bari sax." He nodded and wrote something down. A senior Alice was pretty sure was named Alyssa handed her a blue binder.

"This has got all of our marching/pep band music. We're going to play through, figure out what we know best." said Alyssa, pointing the white board, "There's the seating arrangements. Please find your seat quickly." Alice nodded, and juggling the case, her backpack, and the folder, she checked where she was supposed to be. She found her seat, grabbed a chair and stand, and quickly put her horn together, because most of the band had settled down and was looking through the binder of music.

Just as she started flipping through the binder, noticing it was all copies, Jesse and a few upperclassmen stood in front of the class. Alyssa let out a huge wolf whistle, and everyone was quiet. Jesse spoke first. "Alright, alright, ok. First off, thank you for being on time. This is everyone, so we're going to get started. I know we said we'd vote on a director, but we were talking, and it turns out that Alyssa here has the most experience, by a landslide, so is anyone opposed if she just takes over?" no one protested, so Jesse clapped. "Great. Alright, I'll let her take over now."

Once everyone was back to their seats, Alyssa flipped through the binder for a minute. Still looking at music, she spoke. "Ok, Soskatona hasn't got a fight song yet. Or an alma mater. My guess is that Mr. Maxwell was supposed to take care of that. Um… that's easy. Does everyone know The Hey Song? Let's play that."

Paper rustled, and Alyssa counted them off. The Hey Song was something Alice could play in her sleep; it was nothing but quarter notes for her, so as she played she looked around. She was seated in between the tenor sax and the baritone. It was a small band, much, much smaller than her band in Illinois. There were four flutes, three clarinets, an oboe, three alto saxes, one tenor sax, her, on bari, a baritone, three trombones, five trumpets, and three percussionists.

The song ended just as the first bell rang. Alyssa flipped through the music again. "Ok, let's do Sweet Georgia Brown. Look's fairly easy." Papers rustled again.

"Isn't this the Harlem Globetrotters song?" asked someone. Alyssa nodded.

"I think so. Ok, let's go…" Alyssa counted them off and they started playing. They were barely into the melody, however, when Alyssa cut them off. "Hello, Mr. Tyler."

The entire band whipped around to see Mr. Tyler standing in the entrance, looking on with his arms crossed. "What's going on here?"

Alyssa didn't answer his question; instead, she grabbed her binder and stepped down from the podium. "You're just the person I wanted to talk to." Jesse, Kyle, Kayla, and Logan got up and followed her. They led him into the unused office right next to the door and turned the lights on. Everyone watched them through the huge windows in the office. People mumbled, but no one really spoke up, because they all wanted to watch what was going on in the office.

From her left, Alice heard a voice grumbling. "He's probably gonna say no." Alice whipped around to see the tenor sax player, a boy she didn't know, looking down and mumbling to himself.

"No he won't. Look, he doesn't even look mad." Mr. Tyler, a small man, at least a foot shorter than Jesse, was looking up at them, listening to what they had to say with a curious look on his face. Curious, but not mad.

"I'm just saying, with our luck…" He shrugged and rolled his eyes. Alice frowned at his pessimistic attitude, and thought back to what Kyle had said last Friday when she first heard the idea.

"He has no reason to say no. It's not like we want to destroy public property. We just want to play music in band like we're supposed to, as opposed to doing homework."

The boy shrugged and unhooked his neck strap, setting the tenor sax on his lap. "I wasn't complaining about the extra work time." Alice sighed and turned away from the boy. They probably wouldn't be the best of friends. She looked back to the office to see Mr. Tyler nodding, and the five students grinning big. Alice smiled, too. He said yes, she just knew it. The group came out of the office, still grinning. Alyssa hurried back to the podium and began flipping pages.

"Okay folks, let's go back to Sweet Georgia Brown. I want to play it through all the way." Happily, Alice licked her reed and put the mouthpiece in her mouth. This was the way it was supposed to be.


End file.
